Our Story

Like any modern-day love story, ours started out online and then was accelerated with alcohol. It definitely didn’t matter that Jen had been a vegetarian since age 11, and Maximo was an Argentinian who ate meat at every opportunity.

Fast-forward 3 months, and we were engaged. (Yes, you read that right.) In another 4 months, we were married. (Here’s where this story starts becoming relevant…) In another few months, we got baby chicks.

We named them. We did photo shoots. We started experimenting with egg dishes. And then, it happened.

Maximo stopped eating chicken.

Jen asked him why, to which he replied, “Because I didn’t realize they have personalities. And I can’t take a bite of a thigh without thinking of Stinky’s thigh.”

(The name of that chicken deserves explanation: Stinky was named after an incredibly intoxicating margarita mix called “Stinky Gringo.” Yup, #meaningful.)

This was the beginning of Maximo’s food journey, from high volume, cheaply produced meat to at least thinking about from where his meat came.

Five years later, we now own a small farm in Santa Barbara county (Santa Ynez Valley, to be exact). And in a very atypical fashion, Maximo and Jen are super-aligned and committed to using their land and the rest of their days to advancing high-welfare farming, leading people down a path of sustainability, away from factory farming and towards a happier, healthier life for all.